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Duplicate Content From My Own Site?!

When I ran the SEO Moz report it says that I have a ton of duplicate content.

The first one I looked at was my home page.

http://www.kisswedding.com/

http://www.kisswedding.com/index.html

http://kisswedding.com/index.html

All of the above 3 have varying internal links, page authority, and link root domains. Only the first has any external links.

All of the others only seem to have 1 other duplicate page. It's a difference between the www and the non-www version.

I have a verified acct for www.kisswedding.com in google webmaster tools. The non-www version is in there too but has not been verified.

Under settings for the verified account (www.kisswedding.com), "Don't set a preferred domain" is checked off. Is that my mistake. And if so, which should I select? The www version or the non-www version?

It is important for each web page on your site to only be accessible from a single URL. It is up to you to decide which URL you prefer, then ensure all other URLs are removed or redirected to your chosen URL.

With respect to www or non-www, it does not make any difference but is rather your choice. In this case, since you already have links to the www version and not the non-www version, I would recommend choosing the www version and sticking with it.

The most important change you need to make is on your site. You need to 301 redirect all non-www URLs to their www equivalent. If you are unsure how to make this change and have managed hosting (most small sites do) then contact your host and they can easily make the change. Once the change has been made, test it! First go to your non-www home page and make sure you are redirected. Next, go to any of your inner pages, remove the "www" from the URL and make sure you are redirected to the same page but with the "www" added to the URL.

For Google WMT, you need to verify the site first. You should not have to upload any new file or change any code, but simply click through the options and the site will likely verify. Next, choose the preferred domain as the "www" version. If you wish to be very thorough, you can log into Bing Webmaster Tools and perform the same action. Once your 301 redirect is in place, the search engines would automatically make the change anyway, but it will likely take a month for all the pages of your site to be adjusted.

For the index.html, I would recommend 301 redirecting that URL to your http://www.kisswedding.com/ url.

Lastly, please review all links on your site and ensure they all use the "www" prefix. Include any signatures, social pages (facebook, twitter, etc).

You answered a lot of the questions I was contemplating. Can you confirm I've understood your suggestions?

1. Verify the non-www version in GWT

2. Set preferred domain to the www version because that's getting more links (how do you know that btw?).

3. Set up 301 redirects in my htaccess file.

4. You've recommended that i set my home page as http://www.kisswedding.com VERSUS http://kisswedding.com/index.html or http://kisswedding.com

--- question about this last one. Isn't the index.html always going to exist because if I link back to my site within my own site I use the index.html extension? In fact, all my links are like that - I don't include my entire site url when i'm linking from one page to another on the site.

You asked how do you know the www version because is getting more links

Well, I was taking your word for it. In your original question you stated "Only the first has any external links."

Since you asked I just checked and actually all 3 URLs have external links, but the www version has by far the most.

With respect to the index.html file, it does not have to exist but that is the way your site is currently set up. Either way, it is ok. Simply 301 redirect the /index.html page to the / page.

What you need to understand is that while on your site the /index.html page is the same as the / page, it is not necessarily that way on every site. Additionally while on your site the www and non-www version of a URL is the same page, it is not necessarily that way on every site. For this reason Google will treat each of these pages separately. It will appear to Google that you are duplicating content. Also, your link juice will be divided. A properly configured 301 redirect will resolve these issues.

I think I just had a major Duh! moment. Instead of linking back to index.html could I have been linking back to / all this time?

YES! Once you decide upon a correct URL structure for your website, you should always link directly to the appropriate URL.

On your site, you have chosen http://www.kisswedding.com/ to represent your home page. 100% of your links to the home page should use that URL. Any non-www links and /index.html links should be changed to this format.

Also, any signatures you use and content on other sites which you have control over should be updated to the proper format. Facebook, twitter, articles you published on other sites, etc. should all be updated.

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Learn more.